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Replace An Element With A Prop
If a figure has most of the elements that you want in a character, but it just needs a few little tweaks, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. For example, consider a cyborg character that has a laser cannon for its left forearm. To create this character, you can simply model the laser cannon weapon, position it where it should be, and replace the forearm with the new prop.

Using the Replace Body Part with Prop command, you can quickly swap the default head with a customized one.

Replacing an Element with a Prop
Another way to attach a prop to an element is to actually replace an element with a prop. A good example of this is modeling a pirate who has a hook for a hand or a peg instead of a leg. To replace an element with a prop, load the prop into the scene, position the prop where it should be in place of the body part, select the body part that you want to replace, and choose the Object, Replace Body Part with Prop menu command. This opens a Replace Body Part dialog box where you can select the prop to replace the selected element. Figure 5-12 shows a silly figure where the head has been replaced by a hatchet prop.

[Figure 5-12] Hatchet head

Replacing a body part with a prop is one of the few commands that cannot be undone using the Edit, Undo command.

Disabling the Bend Option
When you replace a body part with a prop, a warning dialog box appears stating that replaced parts usually work best when the Bend option in the Properties palette is disabled. To disable this option, open the Properties palette and click on the Bend option to disable it.

Deleting Figure Elements
Replacing a body part with a prop may require that you delete some figure elements. For example, if you replace the forearm with a hook, the hand and fingers are still there and need to be removed to complete the figure. There actually isn’t any way to delete figure elements, but you can hide them. To hide figure elements, disable the Visible option in the Properties palette.

If several elements need to be hidden, use the Hierarchy Editor. It allows you to hide multiple body parts quickly.

[Figure 5-13] Hook and peg leg

Replace a Figure Element with a Prop
1.       Open Poser with the default figure visible.

2.       Select File, Import, Wavefront OBJ and import the Arm hook.obj and the Peg leg.obj files into the current scene.

3.       Select each imported object in turn and use the Edit tools and the Parameter dials to position them in place of the forearm and the lower leg.

4.       Select the forearm object and choose the Object, Replace Body Part with Prop menu command.

The Replace Body Part dialog box opens.

5.       In the Replace Body Part dialog box, select the Arm hook object. Then click the OK button.

The forearm element is replaced with the hook prop.

6.       Repeat steps 4 and 5 with the lower leg element and the peg leg prop.

7.       For both replaced elements, open the Properties palette and disable the Bend option.

The forearm and lower leg elements are replaced with the selected props, but the hand and foot objects are still visible.

8.   Select the Window, Hierarchy Editor menu command to open the Hierarchy Editor. Then locate and disable the Visible option for the hand and foot elements that are still visible.

Figure 5-13 shows the resulting character after the hand and foot become invisible.

9.   Select File, Save As and save the file as Hook and peg leg.pz3.